Confessions of an Okay Mommy

So, here’s my first confession.  I got this idea from a talk with Nicole last night.  Stolen ideas are the best!

I have many other confessions.  Like, I absolutely use the TV as a babysitter sometimes.  I know, I know; not a great idea.  In my defense, sometimes I need to use the restroom in solitude!  I just need ten minutes of quiet time.  Sometimes, I’m trying to cook dinner and just need the kids to sit still for a half an hour.  While it works, it definitely makes me feel like a bad mom.  I was one of those kids that said all I ever wanted was to be a wife and mommy and I would NEVER let my kids watch TV.  We would always eat organic food, I would name my kids things like Rain and Liberty.  Cut to 15 years later and my kids eat french fries and their names are Jamie and Riley.

I have been known to take short cuts when needed.  “Oh, you need 3 dozen cookies for the bake sale at school?  I’ll just run to the store and buy them!”  I am all about things that will save me time.  I have WAY too much stress in my life to worry about what the mothers of my kids’ school friends will think about me buying cookies from the bakery rather than actually baking them myself.  If you’re like me, you need those short cuts to keep your sanity.

Fund raisers for school?  Sure, I’ll buy whatever crap your kid is selling, if it’ll help the school.  I don’t really need 3 pounds of summer sausage with cheese spread.  But I’ll buy it.  “You’re going around door-to-door selling books to raise money for your trip to State Finals?”  Absolutely, I’ll buy at least one.  I am a sucker for fund-raising if it’s going to help kids, especially if it’s for their education or their arts programs.  Much to my husband’s chagrin, I will buy whatever it is.  I am almost to the point of needing an intervention.  Super-duper confession.

I will put off dusting if it means I can play with my kids a little bit longer.  Our house is clean; but there are days when it is cluttered.  The kitchen counters are covered in mail, art projects, juice and water cups, cell phones, iPads, laptops, keys, etc.  There are days when I let it all go to be able to tell one more story, read one more book, put on one more play.  Then there are days when I just can’t function in the chaos.  I have to clean it all up, even if it means the kids have to read their own books, put on their own plays.  Those days make me sad, but it’s part of being a Mom.

My last confession is this: I am so over-the-moon, absolutely, totally, head-over-heels in love with my kids.  I sometimes wonder how I ever thought I was a real person before they came into my life.  How is it possible that I could have ever really found the humor in anything without knowing what a belly laugh over a botched knock-knock joke felt like?  How could it be that I thought I knew what beauty was before I knew that a slimy, gooey newborn was the most beautiful thing in the world?  Or that the color green was my favorite color before I knew that eating too many froot loops will make your poop that same shade?  Seriously, how could I think I knew anything?

So, dear readers, what do you need to confess?